“I was just honestly in awe of him" - Serena Williams on Tiger Woods after he was inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame
Serena Williams recently revealed that she was in awe of Tiger Woods when she met him for the first time.
The legendary golfer was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and several notable sportspeople paid tribute to him, including Williams. The American hailed Woods' winning mentality and called him a "real champion."
"Hard work is really the epitome of why Tiger is so good at what he does," Williams said. "The one thing that keeps you going back is the fact that you're good enough to be the best at what you do, there's no other reason to do it. When I first met Tiger, I honestly didn’t think we would be friends. I was honestly just in awe of him, like he is Tiger Woods, he was competing against everyone and he looked like me."
"One thing I admired the most about Tiger is his mental strength and his ability to win. Win on one leg or win when you are feeling awful. That’s a real champion."
"That's the GOAT."
@MichaelPhelps, @JerryRice and @serenawilliams reflected on watching the legend and now World Golf Hall of Fame inductee @TigerWoods. https://t.co/1uMsKdtvAP
"I had many opportunities, but I am not giving up" - Serena Williams on winning a 24th Major
Serena Williams' 2021 season was plagued by injury. She began the year well by making the semifinals of the Australian Open but that was as good as it got for the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
The American reached the last 16 of the French Open before losing to Elena Rybakina. She then competed at Wimbledon but was forced to retire in her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich due to a leg injury. Williams has since fallen out of the top 200 in the WTA rankings.
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour last week, The 40-year-old lamented the "many opportunities" she has missed on equalling Margaret Court's 24 Majors but said she is "not giving up" on achieving the milestone.
"You know I'm committed to me, I love tennis and I love what I do, and right now, I have to commit to me," Williams said. "What does that mean? I don't know, I still play tennis, obviously, I still train. But I am the kind of person who thinks, 'Shouldn't it be like 30 or 32?', so that's how I look at it."
"I haven't done it at all, that's what it is. I should have had it, I had many opportunities, but I am not giving up."
At the beginning of the week, I sat down with one of the greatest tennis players of all time @serenawilliams in Paris.
I asked Serena whether she thinks she can still match Margaret Court's record 24 Grand Slam singles titles. "I'm not giving up," she tells me. https://t.co/0zrMCGlRIN